The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies - How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths

In this, his magnum opus, the world’s best known skeptic and critical thinker Dr. Michael Shermer—founding publisher of Skeptic magazine and perennial monthly columnist (“Skeptic”) for Scientific American—presents his comprehensive theory on how beliefs are born, formed, nourished, reinforced, challenged, changed, and extinguished.

The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity Toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom

We are living in the most moral period of our species’ history. Best-selling author Michael Shermer’s most accomplished and ambitious book to date demonstrates how the scientific way of thinking has made people, and society as a whole, more moral. Ever since the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment thinkers consciously applied the methods of science to solve social and moral problems.

The Kafir Project

Astronomer and TV science guy Gevin Rees just landed the interview of a lifetime with the world's most famous physicist. Remarkable, because the eccentric genius is notoriously reclusive, and he's already dead. What happens next forces Rees to run for his life from not one but two deadly assassins and global powers desperate to bury what he's just uncovered. Mind-blowing technology and solid evidence that would rewrite religious history and challenge the faith of billions.

God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction

Originally conceived as a joint presentation between influential thinker and best-selling author Richard Dawkins and former evangelical preacher Dan Barker, this unique book provides an investigation into what may be the most unpleasant character in all fiction. Barker combs through both the Old and New Testaments (as well as 13 different editions of the "Good Book"), presenting powerful evidence for why Scripture shouldn't govern our everyday lives.

Your Deceptive Mind: A Scientific Guide to Critical Thinking Skills

No skill is more important in today's world than being able to think about, understand, and act on information in an effective and responsible way. What's more, at no point in human history have we had access to so much information, with such relative ease, as we do in the 21st century. But because misinformation out there has increased as well, critical thinking is more important than ever. These 24 rewarding lectures equip you with the knowledge and techniques you need to become a savvier, sharper critical thinker in your professional and personal life.

Foundational Falsehoods of Creationism

Religious fundamentalists and biblical literalists present any number of arguments that attempt to disprove evolution. Those with a sympathetic ear often fail to critically examine these creationist claims, leading to an ill-informed public and, perhaps more troubling, ill-advised public policy. As Aron Ra makes clear, however, every single argument deployed by creationists in their attacks on evolution is founded on fundamental scientific, religious, and historical falsehoods - all of them.

Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists

Part 1 of Godless, "Rejecting God", tells the story of how I moved from devout preacher to atheist and beyond. Part 2, "Why I Am an Atheist", presents my philosophical reasons for unbelief. Part 3, "What's Wrong with Christianity", critiques the bible (its reliability as well as its morality) and the historical evidence for Jesus. Part 4, "Life Is Good!", comes back to my personal story, taking a case to the United States Supreme Court, dealing with personal trauma, and experiencing the excitement of Adventures in Atheism.

Fighting God: An Atheist Manifesto for a Religious World

Fighting God is a firebrand manifesto from one of the most recognizable faces of atheism. In his audiobook, Silverman - a walking, talking atheist billboard known for his appearances on Fox News - discusses the effectiveness, ethics, and impact of the in-your-face-atheist who refuses to be silent. Silverman argues that religion is more than just wrong: it is malevolent and does not deserve our respect. It is our duty to be outspoken and do what we can to bring religion down.

The Story of God: A Biblical Comedy about Love (and Hate)

The Bible offers some clues to God's personality - he's alternately been called vindictive and just, bloodthirsty and caring, all-powerful and impotent, capricious and foresighted, and loving and hateful. But no one has ever fully explored why God might be such a figure of contrasts. Nor has anyone ever satisfactorily explained what guides his relationship not just with angels, the devil, and his son, but also with all of creation.

Letter to a Christian Nation

"Forty-four percent of the American population is convinced that Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead sometime in the next 50 years," writes Sam Harris. "Imagine the consequences if any significant component of the U.S. government actually believed that the world was about to end and that its ending would be glorious. The fact that nearly half of the American population apparently believes this...should be considered a moral and intellectual emergency."

Faith Versus Fact: Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible

In his provocative new book, evolutionary biologist Jerry A. Coyne lays out in clear, dispassionate detail why the toolkit of science, based on reason and empirical study, is reliable, while that of religion - including faith, dogma, and revelation - leads to incorrect, untestable, or conflicting conclusions.

God - the Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist

Throughout history, arguments for and against the existence of God have been largely confined to philosophy and theology, while science has sat on the sidelines. Despite the fact that science has revolutionized every aspect of human life and greatly clarified our understanding of the world, somehow the notion has arisen that it has nothing to say about the possibility of a supreme being, which much of humanity worships as the source of all reality.

A Manual for Creating Atheists

For thousands of years, the faithful have honed proselytizing strategies and talked people into believing the truth of one holy book or another. Indeed, the faithful often view converting others as an obligation of their faith - and are trained from an early age to spread their unique brand of religion. The result is a world broken in large part by unquestioned faith. As an urgently needed counter to this tried-and-true tradition of religious evangelism, this audiobook offers the first-ever guide not for talking people into faith - but for talking them out of it.

The End of Faith

Here is an impassioned plea for reason in a world divided by faith. This important and timely work delivers a startling analysis of the clash of faith and reason in today's world. Harris offers a vivid historical tour of mankind's willingness to suspend reason in favor of religious beliefs, even when those beliefs are used to justify harmful behavior and sometimes heinous crimes.

Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue

In this short book, Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz invite you to join an urgently needed conversation: Is Islam a religion of peace or war? Is it amenable to reform? Why do so many Muslims seem drawn to extremism? What do words like Islamism, jihadism, and fundamentalism mean in today's world? Remarkable for the breadth and depth of its analysis, this dialogue between a famous atheist and a former radical is all the more startling for its decorum. Harris and Nawaz have produced something genuinely new: they engage one of the most polarizing issues of our time - fearlessly and fully - and actually make progress.

Andre Wallace Simonsen says:"Must read for an honest debate on the topics"

In this groundbreaking volume, J. Anderson Thomson, Jr., MD, with Clare Aukofer, offers a succinct yet comprehensive study of how and why the human mind generates religious belief. Dr. Thomson, a highly respected practicing psychiatrist with credentials in forensic psychiatry and evolutionary psychology, methodically investigates the components and causes of religious belief in the same way any scientist would investigate the movement of astronomical bodies.

Why There Is No God: Simple Responses to 20 Common Arguments for the Existence of God

Why There Is No God provides simple, easy-to-understand counterpoints to the most popular arguments made for the existence of God. Each chapter presents a concise explanation of the argument, followed by a response illustrating the problems and fallacies inherent in it. Whether you're an atheist, a believer, or undecided, this book offers a solid foundation for building your own inquiry about the concept of God.

Publisher's Summary

UFO abductions, television psychics, paranormal phenomena, skeptics and believers alike, find themselves debating truths and lies in the strange web of pseudoscience and the occult. With everyday normal life moving too fast to comprehend, people are turning to the bizarre and wacky for comfort. Now, director of the Skeptics Society Michael Shermer explores the very human reasons why we find other worldly phenomena, conspiracy theories, and cults so appealing. The eternal search for meaning and spiritual fulfillment leads us astray by extraordinary claims and controversial ideas, particularly those in the realms of superstition and the supernatural. This celebrates the scientific spirit and the joy to be found in rationally exploring the world's greatest mysteries.

This book contained many of the same arguments in the author's other book, How We Believe, with additional discussion of topics such as the Holocaust deniers as well creation scientists. There was too much debunking of the deniers and creationists and not enough analysis of why people believe such things. I suppose the reasons why people believe nonsense is really limited to a few reasons, such as hope, fear, laziness, etc., that are applicable to a variety of situations. There's not a whole lot more that can be said about this.
No need to read both of the author's book. I liked How We Believe much better than this one.

I was very interested in this topic, as a research psychologist who knows quite a bit about the depth of studies that examine the biases in how people make inferences. I found this book immensely disappointing. It "reads" (listens) much more like a diatribe against specific beliefs some people hold than any reasoned explanation in depth about "why" people believe what they believew when others do not, and when much evidence is to the contrary.

I did find the section on the holocost deniers interesing, but the book could have just as well been all about that (which is what the author really seemed mostly to want to write about). I could say so much more, but the key is that he focuses on the weird things far far more than anything about the "why," where there could have been so much more depth--which does not seem to exist in his examination.

When I brought this book, I was expecting an audiobook focused on the philosophical and psychological causes of false beliefs. Instead, this book is just a long skeptic diatribe directed towards fraudulent psychics, creationists, UFO abductees and holocaust deniers. The author even took the time to launch himself in a poorly and bitter attack on Ayn Rand that, in my opinion, reeks of personal bitterness. The last ten minutes are dedicated, almost as an afterthought, to summarily explain the "excuses" humans use to believe in "Weird Things".

If you want a book to refute Creationism, Holocaust Denial or encounters of the third kind, this Audiobook is pure ammunition for your cause. If you REALLY want to know why people believe in real things, please invest your credit/money elsewhere.

I was hoping to get a better understanding of how our brains work and why we believe inexplicable things. Instead this is a book about things that people believe and why they are weird or wrong for believing them. I disagreed with a number of his critical analyses, and I was somewhat offended by his self-appointed position of intellectual superiority. This book could have been much better researched and more imaginative than it was.

Shermer has been the editor of Skeptic Magazine for some years and in that time has come across many weird beliefs and has attended many dubious seminars and psuedo-science events. Shermer tells it how it is and uses reason and whit to get over the real science and socoilogy behind ridiculous claims. I read the book first, and it would be a good idea to get an unabridged version of this (If Shermer has the time) but this is an excellent listen covering some of his adventures to the other side of science. I would also recommend 'Borderlands of science' and his most recent release of his lectures on the history of science.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Giedrius

LondonUnited Kingdom

3/9/07

Overall

"sceptical of sceptical"

It's a sceptical of sceptical of sceptics.

1 of 23 people found this review helpful

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